Peope light candles in memory of the victims of Lampedusa on Friday in Rome a day after a boat with migrants sank, killing more than 270. / Tiziana Fabi, AFP/Getty Images

by Eric J. Lyman, Special for USA TODAY

by Eric J. Lyman, Special for USA TODAY

ROME - The shipwreck that has left at least 110 African migrants dead off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa is drawing renewed attention to the tiny island that has been the European landing spot of choice for thousands of African refugees - many of whom die trying to reach its shores.

Lampedusa, which is about the same size as Key West, is closer to the north African coast in Tunisia than to the southern Italian island of Sicily.

Over its history, it has been an outpost for Mediterranean pirates and fishermen, and has long been an exotic tourist destination. Rabbit Beach on the island was named the world's best beach by Trip Advisor earlier this year.

But it is now known mostly as a potential landing point for refugees, who continue to seek it out despite the massive risks involved.

On Thursday, a ship with about 500 African refugees caught fire off Lampedusa and capsized. At least 110 have been found dead, but more than 200 people are unaccounted for. On Friday, Italian coast guard boats with divers headed out from Lampedusa to search for more bodies, but rough seas made the work difficult.

The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that hundreds die trying to reach Lampedusa each year, and the 30,000 to 50,000 or so who reach land there dwarf the island's permanent population of 6,300, severely taxing the island's ability to handle them all.

"This is tragedy of a terrible scale," said Anna Maria Matranga, a 40-year-old Sicilian-born shopkeeper now living in Rome. "Something has to be done to help the plight of these people and also to prevent beautiful Lampedusa from being destroyed."

At times, processing centers are forced to house three or four times their capacity, sparking complaints from advocacy groups. The problems have deepened since the start of the Arab Spring in 2011.

Italy declared Friday an official day of mourning in the wake of the tragedy, with flags flying half-staff. And Pope Francis, who went to Lampedusa in his first official trip as pontiff earlier this year, said, "Today is a day of tears. These things go against the spirit of the world."

An online petition to nominate the island for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Italian news magazine L'Espresso garnered nearly 25,000 signatures in its first 10 hours Friday.

Michele Palermo, a 55-year-old furniture restorer and former member of the Italian navy, said Italy must do something to halt the influx of illegal migrants.

"They must either let these people come through normal channels or prevent them from leaving their countries at all. But allowing them to die at sea like that is an unacceptable tragedy."

Maurizio Lupi, Italy's minister of transportation, said Italy and other Mediterranean countries should do more to rescue distressed vessels at sea. But Lupi said countries should also take steps to "stop the traffickers of death who exploit the hopes of the poor," a reference to traffickers who promise to deliver refugees to safety in Europe.

Survivors of the fiery shipwreck clung for hours to empty water bottles in the dark, trying desperately to keep themselves from drowning at sea, an Italian fisherman said Friday.

Lampedusa resident Vito Fiorino said he was the first to come across dozens of migrants scattered in the Mediterranean Sea while he was on an early-morning fishing expedition.

At first he thought their weak cries were that of seagulls. Then he saw what terrible shape they were in, coated with gasoline from the smugglers' boat, barely clothed or wearing rags. Some didn't have the strength to grab the lifesaving ring thrown to them. Once on board, they told him they had been fighting to stay alive for three hours.

"It was a scene from a film, something you hope never to see in life," he told the Associated Press.